


Deture to Ethiopia

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Series: Making Our Way Home [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Bruce Banner-centric, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Depression, Gen, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Interrogation, Natasha Romanov Is Not A Robot, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Pining Tony Stark, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Iron Man 3, SHIELD, Science Bros, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Spy Twins, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark-centric, except in a friendship-y way, it's all you, mostly happy ending, unless you want science boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-07-27 03:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7601830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set only a day after the Battle of New York, Bruce Banner finds himself in a not so great state of mind in the midst of a S.H.I.E.L.D. debriefing as Tony Stark tries to convince him to live in Stark Tower with him.</p><p>Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide, self harm and past childhood abuse</p><p>Complete</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

After the Chitauri invasion, Bruce had gone to stay at a hotel on the outskirts of the Manhattan, because Natasha and Clint had been dropping hints during shwarma that someone was going to come collect Bruce in the morning, whether or not he was halfway across the world. He decided to save them some time. So he checked into the motel after grabbing some fast food while on the road and fell into the bed, asleep before his head even hit the pillow, as far as he knew.

He woke up to a knock on his door. When he’d been off the grid, that either meant one of two things, someone needed his help or it was time to move on. It took him a moment to realize he was no longer in India. Shifting  his mind away from whatever dream, or more likely, nightmare, he’d been having before the knock, he went over to the door and peered through the peephole. Tony Stark stood outside the room with an unimpressed look on his face. Bruce forced himself to breathe. “Please go away,” he called through the door. “No can do, Banner. I’ve got science with your name on it!” Tony shouted back, now leaning against a railing as if bothering exhausted physicists was normal for him. Bruce sighed, walking away. “I can’t right now, Stark. Goodbye,” the doctor replied, now walking away from the door. Tony went back to pounding on it, and calling into the physicist when he felt particularly ignored. Bruce got dressed inside, knowing it wouldn’t be long before the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents arrived, and he didn’t want to end up in a cage still in his pajamas. His forced himself to eat the leftovers of whatever he’d shoved into the mini fridge the night before before he passed out on the bed. About twenty minutes later, Bruce heard yelling outside, mostly from Tony, but there were two new voices in the mix. He grabbed his bag, which never seemed to come unpacked. Sitting on the bed he waiting as the shouting match finished and another knock, this one much more formal than the angry harassment Tony had done to the door, resonated through the room. “Dr. Banner, it’s time to go,”  a male voice informed him, but the doctor was already opening the door and stepping onto the sidewalk. He noted the nearly empty parking lot, only three cars, one was a standard issue S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle and another was clearly Tony’s.

Bruce ran his fingers down his wrists and frowned. There were raised lines that Bruce didn’t remember making. “I’m ready,” he said, trying to think of when he’d caused them between the battle and this morning. The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that spoken before pulled Bruce’s bag away from his as he was distracted by the lines. They led him to the SUV, hands pushing his back to keep him moving. His eyes trailed the concrete until they bumped up against the car. He found himself being pressed into it, his bag thrown into the trunk. He focused on breathing, because he was scared and didn’t know what was going on and that was where the Other Guy thrived and now was _definitely_ not the time for him to come out. He tugged his sleeves up ever so slightly, not to alert the agents in the front seats. He didn’t want them to see what he saw.

The wounds were still a little bit red, which was odd for him. He knew exactly how far he could go without bringing the Other Guy out, and that limit wasn’t nearly large enough for how Bruce felt. He pulled his sleeves back down and began to stare out the window, blankly studying the cars they passed. In front of him, the agents spoke in hushed voices, but it wasn’t that he was listening in, unlike Tony, who was following the car unabashedly, JARVIS having hacked into their radio system and playing their conversation back to Tony.

“Look, all I’m saying is that they could’ve spared a little more in getting him to the facility without risking so many lives. He’s _unstable_ ,” the first man, who sounded a bit like a frat boy to the engineer, interrupted when the second man with a deeper voice tried to protest on Bruce’s behalf. “He can’t even go twelve hours without cracking,” he lowered his voice even further, “You see those scars. He _knows_ what he’s doing, he _knows_ he’s putting innocent lives in danger and he _still_ doesn’t stop. He’s out of control and you know it, Jones, don’t give me that look.” Tony’s felt his fingers clench around the steering wheel, his teeth grinding together. “J,” he forced out between angry breaths, “How likely is it that Bruce is still suicidal?” he asked, swallowing hard at the mention of Bruce’s recent self harm. “According to his file-”

“Screw his file,” Tony interjected, “What’s your _professional_ opinion. You know everything that has ever found it’s way onto the internet. You can tell me if one God damned scientist needs to be on suicide watch tonight or if he’s only low right now,” he seethed, angry as the second agent, Jones, replied, agreeing a little dubiously, but agreeing nonetheless. “Sir, I find that once Dr. Banner learns the number of casualties, the likelihood of him being at risk doubles from a thirty-five to forty percent chance currently to seventy to eighty within the hour he is told,” JARVIS informed him. Tony breathed deeply, trying to keep himself calm. “Okay,” he whispered, his voice feeling thick. “And if no one tells him?” he asked. “Dr. Banner will look it up the moment he has internet access. That’s has been his pattern beginning with his third incident.”

“So we’re screwed either way?” the engineer asked. “Yes, sir,” the AI replied, and Tony could feel the defeat in JARVIS’s voice as he conceded Bruce’s state. “Well, fuck,” Tony concluded, feeling that those were the only words that described the situation correctly.

Back inside the S.H.I.E.L.D. vehicle, Bruce was feeling even worse off than Tony. He felt queasy and he ached from his hasty transformation from the Other Guy only the night before. And he’d begun to listen into the agents’ conversation to distract himself, his hearing slightly enhanced from Project Rebirth. “I know that he’s not always like that, Moore. I’m just saying that we should be more concerned when he _is,_ ” the agent in the passenger seat muttered, his eyes glancing into the rearview mirror, squinting slightly. Bruce ducked his head down, but continued listening. “ _Thank_ you,” the driver shook his head. “So glad you speak English, Jones,” Moore smiled at the other, slightly older, agent _. Finally, someone who speaks English,_ Tony had exclaimed. Bruce smiled softly at the memory, wondering ever so slightly where he’d be if he’d opened that door.

He shook himself out of it, it wasn’t doing him any good to fantasize and besides, the car was rolling to a stop. He squirmed a little in seat as the driver’s window was rolled down and the agents showed off their badges, after a moment of conversation that Bruce didn’t process fully, feeling his body sag down in acceptance of his new home. The gate rose and the car pulled into a small parking garage. The darkness encompassed Bruce, and he had to admit that it felt good be a little less visible, less exposed. _I don't get a suit of armor. I'm exposed, like a nerve. It's a nightmare,_ he’d admitted. Bruce shook his head, he couldn’t change the past, just deal with all his mistakes. The driver parked, and sooner Bruce was being guided to an elevator and heading straight underground, seeing the outside world for what he thought to be his last time. He smiled a little at the thought.

 

“Dammit,” Tony muttered, parking his car across the street from the S.H.I.E.L.D. facility. “JARVIS, are we in their cameras and audio yet?” he asked, unbuckling with the knowledge that he wasn’t leaving anytime soon. “Transferring it all to your phone now, sir,” the AI responded pleasantly. Tony pulled it out and smirked at the grainy quality. The base wasn’t exactly the most secure thing, but it was in the middle of New York and Tony didn’t want to cause the city any more trouble than it’d already sustained. On his screen, Bruce was being led down a hallway by the two agents. The physicist looked small, almost collapsed into himself, resigned even. Tony hated it. He wanted- he wanted-

He didn’t know what he wanted but it sure as hell wasn’t that. JARVIS switched the cameras as Bruce and the agents got into range of the next, hopscotching their way through the footage streaming through the halls. They dropped Bruce off into a room that had even worse camera quality than the last set, and Tony waited for something to happen. When Bruce’s lips began moving, Tony asked, “We got audio, J?” The engineer imagined his AI nodding as he replied, “Yes, sir. It appears that Dr. Banner isn’t speaking,” he explained. “Can you do analysis to see what he’s mouthing then?” Tony asked. “Already have, sir.”

“Then gimmie,” he ordered, and text appeared on his screen. _You're fine,_ Bruce mouthed, and Tony wasn't completely sure the physicist knew he was doing it himself. _They're not going to to you, us. They're not stupid. They're just going to ask some questions and then we'll stay here for a while, I'm sure. It'll be fine. We'll be fine. We're not in danger here._

“Thought it was you. Clint owes me five bucks now.” Tony jumped, turning to the source of the voice, his phone dropping out of his hand. He scrambled to pick it up, as he ground out, “Not funny.” He shook his head, “How'd you  even get in here, Romanoff?” he sighed. “You want the embarrassing answer, or the one you'd like?”

“I want what really _happened,_ ” Tony requested, completely resigned to the fact that there was a super spy in his passenger's seat. “You're car door was unlocked. For a genius, that was a pretty stupid move,” she teased, looking bored. “Anyways, I have to take you inside because you were hacking into our system,” she rolled her eyes, “ _again_ . So I have to take you inside,” she finished. “One, J,” he looked up to the ceiling, “Why didn't you lock the doors? Two,” he looked back to Natasha, not waiting for an answer from his AI, “No.” The spy shook her head, “Not a choice Stark,” she sighed, “And besides, it's not like we're going to _punish_ you or something. Since we know that you're just going to watch Dr. Banner out here, we're just bringing you to the observation room.”

Tony gave her a skeptical look, “Just like that?” he asked. The spy nodded, “Just like that,” she answered, “It's not like we would stop you anways,” she paused, pursing her lips a little, “And S.H.I.E.L.D’s learning to pick their battles. So time to go.” Tony studied her for a while, “Fine,” he sighed, putting his phone into his pocket, slipping out of the car. Natasha flashed her badge to the man at the gate, and said, “And anyways, the car isn’t exactly subtle.” He glanced back it and bobbed his head in acknowledgement. The license plate did say _STARK_ after all. They entered the parking garage and she led him towards a simple truck. “Get in,” Natasha ordered, sliding into the driver's seat. Tony looked at it, hoping for something awesome. He got it


	2. Chapter 2

Natasha  allowed a small smirk to show on her face as she slid her ID badge into a small hole in where a CD player would be. The moment she pulled it out, their seats retracted and Tony was free falling through a tube. He landed in a closed cylinder, the bottom some sort of a gel like memory foam, he wasn’t completely sure what it was, but it cushioned his fall easily. The door sprung open and he stumbled out to find a perfectly collected Natasha waiting for him. “I like it,” he told her, grinning as he looked around the room. “Thought you would,” she replied. They started off down the hall, “So how big is the facility?” Tony asked, glancing around the walls, and making faces at the security cameras. Natasha shrugged, “This is my first time in this branch, but it’s laid out the same as the other facilities of this… level,” she explained. “There are multiple  _ levels  _ of buildings?” Tony asked, casting her a sideways glance. “You get to high enough clearance and you can go pretty much anywhere,” was her non-answer. Tony let her have it, opting instead to try and look through the doors. They all had windows, but a lot were tinted so that you couldn’t get a good look inside. But in the few that you could, Tony saw mainly, meetings, which was boring. He began to find a pattern in how the rooms were laid out, and he could figure out based on distance between doors which rooms were for interrogation, observation or were just supply closets. The second room was where he ended up. Natasha flashed he badge quickly and the room unlocked, revealing Clint balancing on the back of a chair. “Took you long enough,” he muttered, not turning his head. “Stop counting from when I announce I’m going to do something and instead start from when I’m actually doing them,” the spy replied, taking her place in the back corner of the room. Tony glanced between them, but shook his head out of the notion that they were more than friends. 

After they exchanged quick greetings, Tony turned his head to see Bruce fidgeting in the next room over. “Why is he in an interrogation room?” he asked, directing the question at Clint. “This facility was the closest to his place, and that room was open,” Natasha replied for him. Tony nodded, but he still didn’t like it. Especially since he knew that both of the Spy Twins had been watching his friend from the start. “So why are you here?” he asks, not looking away from Bruce. “Fury still apparently wants the whole ‘Avengers’ thing to continue to happen and I hate being out of the loop. I didn’t work my way up to level seven,” Clint held his hand up and Natasha sarcastically high fived him, “just for the coffee. Even if it’s great now.” Natasha rolled her eyes at her partners words and they all turn their attention back to the room as a door opens. A female agent enters, holding a tablet and a water bottle. 

“We’re still in New York,” Bruce says blandly, as if there was no accusation in the words, nothing to be implied. He looks up for a moment before focusing his eyes back down on the table. The agent is taken aback, as if they weren’t expecting Bruce to speak. “Ametuer,” Natasha muttered under her breath while Tony and Clint exchange a look at Bruce’s words. “What?” the woman asks. “We’re still in the city,” Bruce reiterates, this like what he’s implying should be obvious. He continues despite that. “That’s not safe, if you’re going to- you know,” he supplies. Tony’s mind darkens and he thinks about all the things Bruce could be talking about. Clearly, the agent was at a loss on her end, as she responded with, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.” Bruce glanced up again, looking resigned. “Last time, we were going to be taken out to the middle of nowhere. I’m assuming that’s where they have the Other Guy,” Tony had a feeling Bruce wasn’t referencing the Hulk, “now. That way it would be safer if he was going to- I just wouldn’t suggest keeping us here for long,” Bruce ended finally, shaking his head slightly. He fidgeted a bit more, and Tony wanted to go into that room and hold him still. 

The agent sat down, “Dr. Banner, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. You are here for a debriefing.” 

“This is a bad spot if you want him detained,” Bruce added as she continued, “You will be free to go in a couple of hours.” Bruce squinted his eyes, studying the agent. “You’re not..?”  he pauses, fidgets a little bit more, looks into the side mirror as if consulting those on the other side. He then looked at the ceiling, he carefully studied the vents and then the outline of the door. “Oh.” he says finally, putting it all together.  _ God, he thought they were going to gas him,  _ Tony thought,  _ He knows I wouldn’t let that happen. He doesn’t know I’m here, but still, he should have a little faith in me.  _ “I’m sorry. I should’ve been paying more attention. Sorry.” Bruce shakes himself a little, forcing himself to make eye contact. “So, debriefing?” he asks, trying to move things forward now that he knew he wasn’t going to locked in a cage anytime soon. “Yes, let’s- let’s start over.” The agent’s composure kicked back up. “I’m Agent Aya Fakroun,” she handed him the water bottle, which he didn’t even glance at, and she propped up her tablet so that he couldn’t read it. Fakroun began to give her prepared spiel. Bruce looked like he was only half listening, and Tony couldn’t blame him, even if he knew that they were probably going to make him debrief too, within the week. But Bruce was a higher priority since he had a tendency to run away from people with lots of power. 

In the observation room, Clint asked, “Why would we want to detain him?” as Fakroun continued. Natasha gave him a look, which was apparently meaningful, as Clint replies, “Yeah, yeah, the tenth section in his file, I know,” he rolls his wrist in a ‘Duh’ sort of way. “Plus that whole eighteen point five dash sixty five thing, but still, he’s a nice guy as far as I can tell.” Tony noted all of the code Clint was using for further use and replied, “He’s the most zen person you’d ever meet. There’s literally no reason for him to get put in a cage, he has a lid on Big Green.” Tony didn’t miss the reassuring look that passed from Clint to Natasha, even if it wasn’t received by Natasha’s unchanged demeanor.

“This isn’t really a debrief so much as an update in his file is it?” Tony asked a  little while later when the agents questions started to drift from the battle. Clint shrugged, “I’m just here because she is, I don’t know what they’re supposed to be doing.” Tony filed that away too, especially since Clint was the one who had given them an excuse for being there earlier. He wondered why Natasha cared about this so much as to drag Clint into it.

The supposed debrief was winding down, and nothing interesting really happened. Until Fakroun remarked, “And your abilities in the field are similar to those of your father, correct?” Bruce dropped eye contact immediately, and he clasped his fingers together as if to keep them from shaking. “Possibly more advanced. But I’ve been out of practice for a while,” he muttered, his body sinking down into his chair. It wasn’t that Bruce had been completely open with Fakroun during their time, but now his entire attitude had flipped, becoming even more guarded and watchful. He breathed heavily for a moment, and Tony could’ve sworn he saw Natasha flinch ever so slightly, but the agent inside the room didn’t seem to notice the change in Bruce’s composure. Or perhaps she was ignoring it on purpose. Tony didn’t miss the earpiece she had sticking out.

Tony felt anger rise in him as the agent continued on the path of Bruce’s family, even though the man clearly didn’t feel comfortable talking about it and that he was clearly lying his ass off about all of it. “She needs to shut up,” Tony muttered under his breath when Bruce’s shoulders ducked forward and he stuck his hands underneath his legs to keep them from shaking. His eyes hadn’t focused on anything for a while and Fakroun still hadn’t said anything, hadn’t even acknowledged it. “She knows what she’s doing,” Clint assured him. Natasha had shifted slightly away from the glass. “Obviously she doesn’t,” Tony said when Bruce ran his hands through his hair, looking miserable, but his mask suddenly shot up and he pulled his arms over his chest to disguise his anxiety and possible anger as grumpiness. For a moment, he peeked down his sleeves, before he answered the next assault on his emotions. “That seems like a good stopping place,” Fakroun said finally, smiling politely at the physicist, who matched her smile a bit crudely. “If you’ll just come this way…” As she turned away, his fingers shook a little since he thought no one else was watching, but he quickly pulled his hands together. 

“Where are you going?” Natasha asked as Tony approached the door. “I’m going to help my friend, who clearly doesn’t want to be with Fakroun right now and would be better off going back to the Tower with me,” he replied, fingers wrapping around the door handle. “No. No, you’re staying in here until they’re gone,” Natasha told him.

“Okay, I don’t know what they taught you  _ here _ , but in most places, you’re supposed to go support people who are upset.” Natasha gave him a curt smile, “Fakroun is just taking Banner to meet his handler. Her name’s Erin Miller, she’s not going to make him any more upset than he already is. Just let him finish up here, and then if Banner  _ wants _ to go with you, he’s free to, okay?” Natasha asked. Tony studied her for a moment, before remembering that she was a master spy and giving up. “Yeah, fine.” 

“Good,” Natasha affirmed, pushing the door open. “You can wait in the lobby if you want. Well, technically you have to unless you can get someone to chaperone you.” She disappeared down the hallway and Tony was left alone with Clint. “I guess I’m taking you to the lobby then,” he says, rolling his eyes a little. “Right this way,” he joked, motioning down the opposite direction that Natasha had run off to. 


	3. Chapter 3

Tony ended up getting left in the lobby. He was seated across from the receptionist, who looked about ready to shoot him from the amount of fidgeting he was doing and was only holding back due to the paperwork he’d have to fill out. The engineer couldn’t exactly pull out his phone and actively watch the footage of Bruce meeting with the other agent, because there was probably some law against it as far he knew and the receptionist was breathing down his neck just by slightly glancing at the genius. But eventually, Bruce was shuffling down the hall behind a woman with curly black hair. She smiled at Tony, “Barton said you’d be down here,” she remarked, shifting her body so that Bruce could get in front of her. He didn’t, his right hand rubbing his left wrist anxiously, not making eye contact with Tony. “Bruce!” Tony exclaimed, jumping to his feet, “Long time, no see, man, how’ve you been?” Clearly not well, if Bruce’s downcast eyes were any indication, but Tony didn’t want to wallow on that. In fact, he didn’t even want them to be in the facility anymore, knowing that, however slightly, it was contributing to Bruce’s darkened mood.

“Please follow me, Mr. Stark, I’ll show you out,” the agent smiled again, drawing Tony’s attention to her, and keeping Bruce from answering. His eyes studied her, trying to figure out how he felt about her, why her demeanor bothered him so much. “Since you have the pleasure of knowing my name, might I have the pleasure of knowing yours?” he asked, his eyes flicking up and down her to make sure she didn’t have a badge or anything. “Agent Christine Miller,” she extended her hand and Tony shook, appreciating the firm grip. “Nice to meet you,” Tony smiled, pushing back any concern on his face and replacing it with his ‘Billionaire Tony Stark’ look. But he doesn’t slow his analysis of the situation as he followed them down the hall. Because you don’t become one of the smartest people on the planet without being hyper-observant.

The women seemed nice enough, but so did half the people that betrayed him, so Tony never let that be a hindrance on how he saw people, but she was an agent, more like Natasha and Clint rather than Peggy and Phil, making her instantly untrustworthy, and probably someone else getting in the way of the friendship he was attempting to spark with Bruce. She could even be the one who was going to try and put the doctor into a cage, because Tony knew nothing about her and he couldn’t just assume that she was nothing like Fury, like all the others who wanted Bruce locked up. Miller stopped at the end of a hall, as Tony offered, “Brucie, I was wondering if you wanted to come back to the tower with me and check out R ‘n D, Candyland, and ‘science’ with me. I have a particle accelerator…” he teased.  

Bruce glanced up once, in that moment, Tony saw thousands of conflicting emotions dripping down his face. Anxiety, fear, guilt, shock, possible happiness or honor, that was overshadowed by intense gloom and something that could be jealousy but was unclear. Tony felt lost, _Why can’t he just let go for once and let me have some fun with the genius trapped in his brain?_ he wondered. “No, thank you,” Bruce swallowed, giving a weak smile in Tony’s directions, but not making eye contact. If Tony had been walking, he would have stopped in his tracks.

“What?” he asks, catching up in the conversation as Miller stood to the side, blatantly observing. “Tony, I’ve already made arrangements to go somewhere else. I’m sorry.” Bruce looked so tired and resigned and mostly tired and so Tony gives him this one. “Yeah, okay,” he grumbled, “But some other time?” He maneuvered them so they could be making eye contact. “Sure, Tony,” Bruce shook his head, just wanting to end the conversation. “Awesome!” Tony beamed, even though he knew it was just one of the physicists many avoidance techniques. “In here,” Miller interrupted, gesturing to an elevator that Tony hadn’t noticed before. Bruce sized it up as the doors slid opened before seeming to decide that they weren’t going to keep him in there forever, especially after Miller entered herself, Tony followed in and they were soon surging towards the surface world. “Want a lift?” Tony asked as Miller waved them off into the now busy street. “What? No,” Bruce answered, his eyes flicking over in surprise at the continued conversation, “No, I’m just going to get a taxi back… to my hotel,” he continued distractedly, he rubbed one of his wrists for a second time without realizing it, which Tony found odd because Bruce usually wrung his hands together when he was anxious. “Fine, suit yourself. I’ll be at the tower if you need me, or want to hang out or move it. You know, whatever floats your boat,” he smiled charmingly, but Bruce didn’t even glance his way. “Yeah, thanks,” he muttered and began walking down the street away from where he saw Tony’s parked car.

Tony stood there for a moment, watching until he saw Bruce get into a cab. “JARVIS,” he murmured once he got into his car. “Let’s go home, yeah? That’s enough spying for today, right?”

“A bit too much perhaps, sir,” the AI quipped. “You’re a meanie,” Tony teased tiredly, sticking his tongue out towards one of the speakers. “A bit childish, don’t you think, sir?” JARVIS remarked. “Yeah, whatever,” Tony said as he pulled out into traffic. “Put on some jams, J, I’m going insane in here.”

“Very well, sir,” he replied and Black Sabbath started blaring through the speakers. “Turn it down, J, I’m getting old,” he joked, running a hand over his jaw to suppress a yawn. Eventually, he pulled into the Stark Tower’s garage and made his way upstairs, into the offices. He finally wandered into Pepper’s floor, and then into her room as she nodded into the phone. _‘Who is it?’_ he mouthed as he entered. When he realized that she hadn’t seen him, he crossed the room as she ignored him and snatched the phone out of her hand impatiently. “Who is this?” he asked, interrupted the man on the other line. There was a pause, then, “This is General Thaddeus Ross of the United States Army. Now put Ms. Potts back on the line.”

“ _Yeeeah_ , no can do, since you’re talking to my girlfriend when I’m trying to talk to her. I’m going to have to put you on hold, one sec,” Tony brought the phone away from his ear, “Why are you on the phone with this push over?” he asked her as on the phone, he heard Ross say, “No, don’t do that, you’re actually just the person I wanted to speak with Mr. Stark.” He ignored it as he awaited Pepper’s answer. “I _was_ trying to keep him from calling your personal number, JARVIS redirected his call to a secretary, who Ross scared, and patched him over to me. You’re welcome. So give me the phone so I can fix this,” she ordered, holding her hand out expectantly. Rather than listening to the CEO, Tony pulled the phone back up and asked, “Why’d you yell at my secretary? That’s not very nice, and plus that’s a horrible first impression. I don’t know what you were calling for, but now I’m not going to tell you. Bye bye, Ross-y Rue,” he hung up the phone, setting it back down on it’s charging station. “Did I do it right, Pep?” he asked, emulating a petulant child, rocking back on his heels for effect. She sighed, “No. But I’ll deal with it when-” the phone rang, and she glanced at the caller ID, breaking eye contact for only a moment, “Now. Play nice, or else he’ll be coming down here with tanks and tear gas, ‘kay?” She raised her eyebrow to make it clear she wasn’t kidding. Tony shrugged but sat down in one of the chairs across from her own sullenly. She picked up the call, and after a moment, said, “Yes, I understand. My apologies, General.” She rolled her eyes towards Tony as she said this, who since had begun rummaging through the papers on her desk. She gave him a ‘knock it off’ look but wasn’t all that bothered. A half hour later, Pepper had successfully convinced the general not to destroy New York even more than the aliens already had and to not storm Stark Tower to take Tony into custody. Said engineer was now walking around the room aimlessly, picking up random paper weights and books and placing them somewhere else entirely, after studying them for a moment or two.

“Why don’t you go work in the lab, dear?” Pepper asked hopefully as Tony bounced around her office. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate her boyfriend's presence, especially after his near death experience with the wormhole just a day before, but there were times when his spastic energy was too much and she still had a company to run, which was becoming a bit more difficult after all the panic from the day before. “You see, Pep, I totally would, but the issue is, I’ve been spoiled,” he dropped down into a chair dramatically, “The S.H.I.E.L.D. peoples let me hang out with another genius for one millisecond too long and now I can’t work without someone else on that caliber, or else I’ll die of idiocy exposure.”

“I’m sure you’ll make do, love, now if you excuse me, I have a meeting that you’re supposed to be at,” she stood up, gathering a few papers and closing her laptop. “So unless you want to come, you need to be working on some new tech for us to copyright and make money off of. Understood?” she asked, ushering him out the door. “Yes, dear,” he sighed, following her into the elevator before realizing they were going in opposite directions and stepping out with a quick kiss. “Love you,” they called to each other as the doors closed and Tony got into a different elevator to take him to the labs.

After a week or so, after Tony had set up JARVIS to start monitoring where Bruce was and started to position some of his jets and buildings and people around where the physicist had traveled to (some country that Tony’d never heard of) just in case someone else decided to show up and rain on Bruce’s parade. Tony thought that he and Bruce’s friendship was over with, that Bruce was never going to try and contact him. Sure, Tony still began to transition the tower into a more Avengers friendly place, designing each of them floors as he helped reconstruct, both his home and the city, and working to have a stronger outer shell in the tower, just in case there was a next time when it came to the whole _alien_ _invasion_ thing. He’d moved on from all that, mostly, and had even gotten used to not having another genius at his disposal, started to figure out how to use the arc reactor technology to power the majority of Manhattan because his test run went fairly well considering the circumstances it had sustained and a lot of the city was rebuilding anyways, so now was good as time as any to get the tech installed (once he got the patent, Pepper reminded him constantly).

But anyways, the last thing he knew about Bruce was that he was in Burkina Faso (is that even a real place?) helping build a school or orphanage or something, Tony wasn’t sure. He was just finishing up some plans to send to the governor (and a patent office) when he suddenly got a call. The number was unknown, but JARVIS said it came from a pay phone in a city in Ethiopia. Tony picked up cautiously, “Hello?” he asked, spinning around in his chair lazily, thumbing through some emails on his tablet. There was silence on the other line for a moment, just shallow breathing, and Tony was about to hang up when a very familiar voice asked, “Does your offer still stand?” Bruce’s voice was thick, and Tony was fairly certain the man had just been crying, but he couldn’t be sure without seeing his almost-friend. “Yes, yeah, of course,” he said, blinking rapidly, trying to figure what was going on and when Bruce had moved countries. “What changed your mind, big guy? Everything okay?” he typed into his command box for JARVIS to get a Quinjet to Bruce’s location as soon as possible. Bruce ignored him, “I’m sorry I have to go,” he remarked. “Sorry, I’m somewhere in Ethiopia, I’m sure JARVIS already knows where. I’m sorry.” The line went dead.

Tony leaned back in his chair, sighing heavily. “That jet on its way, J?” he asked. “Yes sir,” the AI replied, “I sent Miss. Balewa with the pilot, as she seemed the most qualified and the closest,” JARVIS informed him. “She’s the one that’s both a molecular biologist and psychiatrist that wanted me to see her regularly when I was in the area, right?” he asked, remembering her finding him in the middle of an anxiety attack after a particularly bad Ironman battle in Wakanda. “Yes, sir. She has since gotten a degree in civil engineering,” JARVIS informed him. Tony snorted, beginning to leave the lab, manually shutting down the machines, even though could easily have had JARVIS do it. “Yeah, that sounds like something she would do,” he commented, the doors sliding open as he approached. “Thanks, J,” he muttered. “Of course, sir.”

Tony rode the elevator down to the Avenger’s common floor. “Oh, and can you clear my schedule for the next, like twelve hours, or so? I need to get at least Bruce’s bedroom done before he gets here,” he requested, remembering that he still wasn’t done with inner reconstruction, leaning back against the metal wall. He didn’t add that something about Bruce’s voice was making him nervous, something that made him want to hide all the weapons in the tower. “I wouldn’t want him having to sleep in a guest room his first night here. What sort of first impression would that make?” he wondered aloud. “Of course not, sir,” JARVIS answered, “Your schedule is clear,” he added. “You’re the best, J,” Tony muttered, running a hand over his tired eyes as he walked out into the common floor. “Yep still covered in packing peanuts and cardboard,” he commented. “Yay.”

He got to work, sorting out the floor, JARVIS sending up a couple workers to help Tony unpack all the furniture and fixtures that he’d randomly ordered. A couple hours later, he’d finished the common area and him and a couple others were beginning to make Bruce’s apartment look livable. Three hours after that, with most of the work done, and even Steve’s room had been started on, JARVIS called out, “Sir, Dr. Banner has arrived.” Tony glanced at the clock, wondering where all the time had gone. But instead, he asked the AI, “How is he?”

“I’m not sure, sir. “


	4. Chapter 4

His  eyes startled upwards from his hands when he heard the elevator door slid open. Bruce glanced to his right, but she just smiled encouragingly at him. “Brucie!” the engineer exclaimed as he strutted over to where the physicist twiddled his thumbs. “What brings you to my neck of the woods?” he continued, smiling brightly so as to not allowing Bruce to fumble in silence. “And why’d you bring a partner in crime?” he fake pouted, “I thought we agreed I was going to fill that role for the next week or so?” Here, the billionaire paused, looking between both agent Miller and Bruce, waiting for one of the two to answer. “What are you doing here?” Tony reiterates pointedly at Miller, not too kindly, when neither of them answered for half a beat. Miller forced a mirrored smile to him, “It’s my job to keep track of Dr. Banner, that’s all,” she promised, spreading her fingers to show that she didn’t have any tricks up her sleeve, or, at the very least, in her hands. Tony gave her a skeptical look, before waving his own hands dismissively, “Well, thanks for stopping by. As you can see, you’ve tracked Brucie here down to his next location, so feel free to skedaddle.” After a quick stare down, agent Miller shrugged, not looking away, not showing weakness, before getting into the S.H.I.E.L.D. van and driving away. Tony shook himself out of his daze and reapplied his ‘Personable Billionaire’ face. “So what do you want to do first? You wanna meet Pepper? You should meet Pepper!” Tony prattled as he guided Bruce towards the elevator and pressing the button for his girlfriend’s and his floor. 

Bruce fidgeted a bit in the elevator, clearly uncomfortable as Tony carried their conversation and squeezing one word answers out of the genius until JARVIS interrupted, sliding the doors open. “Ms. Potts is in her office on this floor, sir,” he explained. Tony nodded, “Makes sense.” The engineer may have been a bit giddy, but there was nothing he could do about it, since the last time he’d been with his fellow genius, he’d been able to have some fun in their shared new environment. Now, Bruce was at the disadvantage, in a new place and, as much as Tony hated to admit it, a bit of a more mellow mood than usual, according to JARVIS, to say the least. Maybe the engineer should’ve toned it down, but he was excited and he had trouble dialing it back when he was around people that spoke his language. But all of the excitement coursing through his head made him miss the more important details, like how, when JARVIS spoke, Bruce had jumped in surprise, and possibly fear, at the disembodied voice. 

Pepper stepped out of her office after the AI informed her of the recent development of the genius’ arrival. Pepper smiled widely and extended her hand. After blinking for a moment, Bruce shook, forcing out a contained smile of his own. “It’s nice to meet you, Ms. Potts,” he greeted, a bit formal and extremely awkwardly. “Please, call me Pepper,” the CEO replied warmly. Neither of them broke eye contact. “Oh, um, thank you… Pepper. I’m Bruce. Then,” he replied, still blinking heavily, as if trying to stay awake. The pair had been shaking hands throughout this whole affair, so Tony cut it off with, “Well, this is fun. But I’m bored, let’s go science.” He grabbed for Bruce’s hand, but Pepper intercepted, forcing him to make eye contact. “Show him around first, Tony,” Pepper scolded affectionately. 

Bruce shifted on his feet, unsure on how to handle himself in this type of situation, but it was cut short, when JARVIS informed Pepper that she had a call in the other room. “Excuse me,” she smiled, filing away Bruce’s flinch for a later discussion with her boyfriend. “Behave,” she said pointedly at Tony, “I have JARVIS tell me when you’re being difficult,” she reminded him. “That’s because he’s a traitor,” Tony complained brightly. “Bye, Pep!” 

He led the physicist away towards the elevator, starting to explain how the security access worked through biometric measures. 

“And  _ this _ is the first floor of R ‘n’ D,” Tony announced spreading his arms to showcase the majesty that was the  _ HoloLab  _ (patent pending). “I- it’s beautiful,” Bruce stuttered, looking around at the technology of the future. “This- this is amazing,” his brow furrowed in the same way that it did when he was solving a difficult equation or possibly world hunger, depending on the day. “I know!” Tony led Bruce, who was more than a bit reluctant, into the room, and he began to show him all the features of the lab. 

Three hours later, Bruce had seen all of the other labs and he and Tony were in the elevator once again, riding down to the floor that Tony had only finished earlier that day. “You can hang out in here and explore in stuff, because I’m kinda supposed to be at a meeting right now,” he gave an apologetic smiled after explaining the general layout. “Bye,” they called to each other, smiles dripping off their faces. 

 

Tony dropped Bruce off at his floor, which made the scientist uncomfortable, the idea that his presence warranted a whole floor to be wasted, maybe even destroyed on a later date, but he pushed that aside. Tony raced off in the elevator so as not to be late for his meeting, but it was in vain, he was supposed to be there half an hour ago. So that left Bruce to his own devices. The physicist wandered around the floor, and tried to convince himself to unpack, that this was real, but couldn’t get passed his stigma of laying down roots, no matter how small they were. Instead, he left his suitcase, which he didn’t remember anyone saying they’d bring it up to his floor, on a chair off to the side, before walking into the bathroom. He closed the door softly and allowed his shoulders to relax ever so slightly, rolling up his sleeves. Bruce glanced around for any cameras or mics before muttering, “Why do I keep doing this?”

The thick scars that had been there earlier that morning had already almost completely disappeared. It seemed that the more he worked to bridge the communication between him and the Other Guy, the more this alter’s abilities diffused into his everyday life.  _ Why did you come here?  _ his thoughts taunted him. He forced his eyes shut for several minutes, trying not to hear his own thoughts.  _ Why can’t you do anything worse? You are hurting humanity by staying alive, there’s no way for you to make up for everything you’ve done, everything you’ve let him do. _

“Sir,” Bruce flinched at the sudden noise, his brain presuming that he was under attack, but he quickly go his anxiety in check. “Mr. Stark has requested that you review a few projects,” the AI continued, “He’s sent them to your tablet, which you’ll find on your side table. Along with those files, your previous research has been loaded onto the tablet, in case you wish to continue your work,” JARVIS explained. After pushing past his initial fear, Bruce couldn’t help but feel a glow of happiness. 

It had been quite a while since the doctor had been trusted with something that wasn’t life or death, and it was a happy surprise that people still could. “Thanks JARVIS,” he smiled, looking through the various files that had been loaded on his- the word surprised him- tablet. The files made him feel not like this huge burden on his- he didn’t want to use the word friend yet, it felt premature, and although he was sure that the engineer could hold his own, people he got close to tended to get hurt. He didn’t want the circle to continue. Not anymore, not if he could help it. 

 

Tony bit back a sigh as he watched Bruce pace throughout his floor anxiously over the security feed. “Mr. Stark,” the treasurer interrupted. His eyes flicked up from his phone, “What?” the engineer asked, blinking as if stepping into the light for the first time. Miss. Krantz suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, “I just asked you if wanted to increase job growth in the research department in either Chicago or London,” she repeated. “Oh,” he blinked again, trying to think about the implications, but not really wanting to. Especially about the current subject.

He hadn’t been planning on going to this meeting a month ago, but a month ago, the average person thought that New Mexico had been an isolated incident and the worst damage in New York was grafiti, not alien carnage. So here he was, trying to appease Pepper because even though he’d basically  _ just _ gone through a wormhole and back, she was still mad at him for nearly dying. “You want better tax laws or whatever, right?” he asked, forcing himself into the conversation, because if he’d didn’t now, then he’d have Pepper breathing down his neck as he read an impersonal report on his later. 

But it wasn’t long before he could tune the meeting out again, and began staring at the security feed. He waited for Bruce to exit the bathroom, but after thirty minutes ticked by and the physicist still hadn’t emerged, Tony began to worry. He opened up his JARVIS command app (also patent pending) and wrote,  _ Move some projects over on his tablet, staring at an empty room…  _

JARVIS gave an affirmative answer before Tony flipped back to the video feed, subtitles filling him in on their dialogue. Once Bruce left the bathroom, Tony felt himself relax, and started to watch the screen less and actually interacted with the meeting (if only to make a couple of snide comments). The meeting finally concluded, and Tony couldn’t help but smile as he saw Bruce reading the plans and making little remarks here and there to JARVIS. 

He wasn’t sure why, but the engineer couldn’t help but want to keep the small smile on his friend’s face all the time, to glue it in place or something. He knew that something had been wrong earlier that day, that how Bruce was feeling wasn’t clear, but he had plans to write some new code to help JARVIS better understand human emotion for people other then himself. He wanted to do everything in his power to keep Bruce happy and safe, to keep him home. To prevent him from ever feeling upset or depressed or however he was feeling this morning. He wanted- he at least wanted to know when he felt less then 100%. He pulled out his phone, “Hey, Bruce, wanna join me in the business endeavor of a lifetime?” he asked after Bruce answered up his call. 

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr (percy-superwholock-jackson.tumblr.com) for more Bruce Banner angst (headcanons)!


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